The 2nd Western District Military Court has sentenced Ivanovo businessman Dmitry Silin in absentia to six and a half years in a general-regime penal colony over a publication mentioning the Freedom of Russia Legion. The decision was announced by the press services of the district court and the Ivanovo Garrison Military Court.
Silin, described as one of the co-founders of the George Orwell Library in Ivanovo, was found guilty under Article 205.2, Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code, which concerns calls for terrorism. In addition to the prison term, the court banned him from administering internet resources for three years.
According to investigators, the case stemmed from a Telegram post mentioning the Freedom of Russia Legion, which is designated as a terrorist organization in Russia. The prosecution says the businessman called on readers to pass information about Russian military sites to the banned group.
The criminal case became public in April 2026, when Silin was arrested in absentia. Earlier, in 2023, another case had been opened against him for repeated “discrediting” of the army under Article 280.3, Part 1. That case was based on a comment he left under a post about memorial plaques in Ivanovo dedicated to participants in the invasion of Ukraine.
“The names of killers must not be hung on schools. School principals, fear God,” Silin wrote.
He was also arrested in absentia in 2024 in the army “discrediting” case. A court ruling approving the pretrial measure indicates that investigators also accuse him of aiding embezzlement and desecrating state symbols. The embezzlement case is believed to be linked to his company Formoza: in March 2024, the outlet 7x7 reported that the business was facing financial problems amid accusations that it had failed to fulfill a state contract worth 30 million rubles.
Silin has been outside Russia since December 2022. After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he and lawyer Anastasia Rudenko organized free book distributions in Ivanovo, including many dystopian works such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We. They later founded the George Orwell Library in the city.